


Her Prey

by so_many_of_the_ships



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Avengers - Freeform, Backstory, Clintasha - Freeform, Dom/sub, Eventual Smut, Kinkysmut, Smut, Teasing, heros
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-01
Updated: 2015-07-05
Packaged: 2018-03-15 21:13:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3462269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/so_many_of_the_ships/pseuds/so_many_of_the_ships
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Good,” he smiled. “Here is your assignment.” Coulson stood and handed her yet another case file, which felt slightly heavier than the last one in her hand. “Have you ever been to Budapest?”<br/>Natasha, who had grown accustomed to not letting her emotions show, coolly played off the flood of memories that inundated her mind at the mention of the place.<br/>“Budapest? I can’t say that I have.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“You did well,” Clint teased as he threw the case file into her lap and sat across from her at their new meeting place—a coffee shop that Stark had recommended a few weeks before. “Too bad I was the one who brought him in.” He winked and pointed at the file in her lap. “Loser does the paperwork,” holding up his coffee, he added, “and pays for the refreshments.”

  
Natasha took a quick glance down at the papers in her lap and followed through with a short, deep growl that would have warned most people off, but Clint knew his partner too well. He knew her well enough to know that she meant business, but he also knew that she would never hurt him—or so he had always hoped.  
“You wouldn’t have brought him in if I hadn’t been there, and you know it, Barton.” She studied the papers. She hated paperwork. “I promise you. I will make it up to you if you do this for me.” She slowly raised her head and gave her a look that would have sent most men to their knees to do whatever she asked, but Clint only smirked and tapped her on the forehead with that day’s newspaper.

  
“No can do, Tasha. You know I hate paperwork too. Everyone does. Plus, I enjoy seeing you fuming, knowing there’s nothing you can do to make me cave.” He chuckled and winked at her. “I’m not your prey, Tasha. Remember that.”

  
She rolled her eyes, outwardly saying that she always remembers that, but she knew that she didn’t really. She constantly had to remind herself that he was her partner, not another puzzle for her to figure out the key. He was not a new toy for her to use. He was not a door for her to unlock. He was Clinton Francis Barton . . . her partner. And it had to stay that way.

  
They had at one point talked about doing something more, but quickly brushed it away. After all, the only thing that would come from it was pain. They would get close and be each other’s weaknesses. Or the other likely path was that they would hurt one another and not be able to work together anymore and lose a wonderful partnership. They decided that was not good for anyone, so they never pushed anything.

  
She wouldn’t lie. Had Natasha Romanoff ever been asked if she had imagined Clint on top of her, pinning her down to the dining room table with little to no clothing on either one of them, she couldn’t say no. But she would always push those thoughts aside. They were childish. Love was of course for children alone. Children. Children didn’t have to worry about attachments. They didn’t have to worry about not being killed in their sleep. Life was simple.

  
Minutes had gone by in the coffee shop, and Nat was once again staring out the window, deep in thought. Clint waited for a few minutes before leaning forward and calling her back to earth.

  
“Tasha.”

  
“Hm?”

  
“Are you okay?”

  
“Yea.” She smiled reassuringly. “I’m always okay. You know that.”

  
“You don’t have to do that, you know.”

  
Here we go again . . .

  
She closed her eyes and drew in a long and almost annoyed breath.

  
“Do what, Clint?”

  
“This. This whole ‘I’m the Black Widow. I’m strong. I don’t have any needs or wants at all. The world comes before me, and no one can know how I actually feel.’”  
She had heard this from him one too many times and was ready for him to stop.  
“Shut up. I’m fine. Why don’t you believe me?”

  
He studied her for a second before responding.

  
“Miss Romanoff, how many years have we been working together?” he began.

  
“Ten years.”

  
“Yes. And in those ten years, would you say that we have gotten to know each other pretty well?”

  
“Yes, Clint.”

  
“Yes. I would say that I know you better than I know anyone. I know your quirks, your facial mannerisms, even your sleeping routine, which should change, by the way. You need more sleep.” She opened her mouth to interrupt him, but he continued before she could. “Yes. It does. Anyways, in my whole life, I have not put my life in anyone’s hands as many times as I have put it in your hands these last ten years. I know you, Tasha. I know when you are lying.”

  
She exhaled sharply and shook her head. “Clint. I’m fine. Okay? Finish your coffee so I can go home and do this paperwork.”

  
He saw that he wasn’t going to get anywhere with her so he raised his hands and backed up. “Fine. If you don’t want to talk about it, I won’t push it, but Tasha….” He walks gets up to leave, but stops right next to her and whispers lowly in her ear, “You can’t let anything bottle up. You are keeping things inside. It’s not good for work, for anyone. I’m here to talk.” He pulled back and spoke normally again. “And I always will be.”

  
She pursed her lips and nodded silently.

  
“Have fun with your paperwork.” He smirked before patting her shoulder and walking out of the shop.


	2. Chapter 2

Natasha sat at her desk at S.H.I.E.L.D.’s new underground base. They had to make a new base since Hydra had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. and torn everything down. The underground base was temporary. Natasha was glad. Sitting at a desk was strange enough for her, and being confined to the underground was even worse. She closed the file and put the final stamp on it.

  
“Done,” she breathed as she finished the paperwork.

  
She pulled out her phone and texted Clint.

  
_I finished your damn paperwork._

  
She waited a while, knowing it would not take him long to respond, and sure enough, her partner replied within the minute.

  
_See? Not that bad, was it?_

  
Nat simply rolled her eyes and stuffed her phone back in her pocket. She picked up the file and headed towards Phil Coulson’s office. Once she made it to his door, she placed her hand on the scanner which granted her access to his room. She walked in and cleared her throat. “I have the finished case file on Dirmitov Stalonsky, Director.”

  
Phil looked up from an antique model car he had been toying with on his desk. “Thank you, Agent Romanoff. You can just set it there. Yes, thank you. Before you go, I have a new assignment for you and Barton. Can you contact him?”

  
“Yes, sir. I can do that.”

  
“Good,” he smiled. “Here is your assignment.” Coulson stood and handed her yet another case file, which felt slightly heavier than the last one in her hand. “Have you ever been to Budapest?”

  
Natasha, who had grown accustomed to not letting her emotions show, coolly played off the flood of memories that inundated her mind at the mention of the place.  
“Budapest? I can’t say that I have.”

  
She had fooled Coulson, and she was glad to see him sit back down without ever thinking twice of what she had said. “There is a man there named ‘Alajos Beraht.’ He runs a small group of assassins for hire. If anyone wants to use one, they have to go to him first.”

  
Natasha opened the file and looked through the papers, pretending not to know everything that he is saying. He continues, “I want you and Agent Barton to go after him and bring him back. S.H.I.E.L.D. wants to interrogate him. Do you think you can do that?”

  
She nodded slowly and silently, closing the case file.

  
“One last thing,” Coulson added, “I am requesting that Tony Stark go with you two.”

  
Nat quickly looked up at him. “With all due respect sir, I think Agent Barton and I can handle one man.” She really didn’t want to spend any more time with Stark than she needed to.

  
“With all due respect, Agent Romanoff, you will also be dealing with every other assassin that works for him, not just Alajos. Mr. Stark has already been notified and will meet with you and Agent Barton tonight before your flight out tomorrow.”

  
Natasha pressed her lips together in a thin line and nodded. “Yes sir.”

  
“Good.” He smiled and showed her the way out of his office. “Remember to keep S.H.I.E.L.D. up to date on the operation, and contact us if anything goes wrong.”

  
She nodded and walked out of his office. She made her way to the elevator and went up to ground level where Clint was already waiting for her with his copy of the case file.  
Nat furrowed her brow and looks at her partner. “I thought they couldn’t find you,“ she started.

  
“S.H.I.E.L.D. couldn’t, but Stark did. This is his copy. He surprisingly shared something.” Clint laughed at his joke and then settled down and gave Nat a serious look. “Are you sure that you want to do this?”

  
“Are you?”

  
“No.”

  
“Neither am I.”

  
“Tasha,” he exhaled softly and puts a hand on her shoulder. “If they are going to hurt anyone, they are going to hurt me, not you. I won’t let them take you back.”

  
She knew what he said was true. Alajos would want her to work for him again. She was always his favorite. There were many advantages to women assassins. They could get very close to their target through all sorts of means, seduction being the best and easiest option, especially when you looked like Natasha. Alajos paid her a lot of money to work for him because she always got the job done quickly and cleanly, and when some American archer with a thing for purple vests and fiery red-haired assassins came in and took her away from him, he was not happy.

  
She looked up at Clint and silently nods. “I know you won’t. And I won’t let them hurt you either. Okay? We got away from them once, we can do it again.”

  
He put on a reassuring smile for her, hoping to give them both confidence, but it didn’t fool her. She appreciated him trying though, and gave him a smile to match his.  
Clint swallowed and gave her shoulder a small squeeze. “Come on. We need to go pack.”


	3. Chapter 3

The next day, Clint, Natasha, and Tony all met at one of Stark Industry’s private jets. Some of Stark’s men helped them load their stuff onto the jet despite the many protests from the shorter assassin saying that she had many explosives in her bag and would much prefer to carry them herself. Eventually, everyone was settled onto the jet. Clint quickly situated himself into a seat, admittedly being very excited at the windows at every seat. Of course, there were only four seats, but he was excited nonetheless.

The first few minutes went by very slowly. Yes, they were all friends, but the only other relationships that Tony and Natasha had ever had other than New York was a complete lie. Tony would start to say something but then realize that he really knew nothing about her. Clint never really had much of a relationship with Stark. A good portion of the team building that the Avengers had, Clint spent being under Loki’s control.

There had been soft music playing the entire time. Natasha had not actually payed much attention to it for the first part of the flight, but there was not much else to do, so she closed her eyes and listened.

_I’m sexy and I know it…I’m sexy and I know it…_

A small smirk appeared on her face. What else would Tony Stark be playing on his jet? She opened her eyes and tried to make eye contact with Clint who was sitting across from her. Little did she know that Tony had been watching her in her silence the whole time diagonally from her. “Enjoying the tunes, Romanoff?”

She immediately looked up at Tony and shrugged passively. “It’d be better if the words were actually true about the speaker,” she replied, the smirk reappearing on her face.

“Ha!” The billionaire scoffed, crossing his right leg over his left. “Very funny-“ His flow of words suddenly stopped, and Natasha tilted her head, wondering why they did and followed Tony’s eye line to Clint who was barely keeping in a fit of laughter.

Smiling, she looked down at her lap and pursed her lips before turning and looking out the window.

“So!” Tony attempted first to break the silence and turn the attention away from him for once. “Alajos Beraht. Why’s he on S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Naughty List?”

Clint, not very amused by the form of the question, or the question overall, looked over at Natasha, who had not shown any signs of hearing Tony except for a slight tightness in her jaw, who was still looking out of the window. He opened his mouth slowly, trying to choose the right words. “Alajos Beraht is a handler in Budapest. He deals with international assassins and employs them to work for him He has plenty of people he wants to kill, and plenty of people who want to kill someone. Basically, he’s a millionaire with a lot of assassins at his fingertips.”

Natasha had not looked away from the window the whole time that Clint was talking, but she now looked at him and sighed heavily. “And he isn’t going to be easy to kill. He keeps at least two or three assassins with him at a time. I guess that’s why Coulson asked you to come.”

After this short exchange, the friends went quiet, Clint and Natasha exchanging a few meaningful glances before the jet landed about a half hour later. They stood silently, taking their bags and pilling into the limo that Tony had rented for them after some scolding from Natasha about not being incognito enough, but she soon went quiet when she saw that there was champagne, a treat that she had always loved.

Later that night, they made it to the hotel and stayed in their separate rooms all next to each other. Tony was on the far left. Natasha was in the middle, and Clint was on the right. They got settled and waited for the next day and what it would bring.


End file.
